Shoot to kill?https://www.corneredcat.com/shoot-to-kill/Excerpt:It’s not enough to be right at the beginning of the fight. You have to be right at the end of the fight too. You need to stop at the right time. And that means guarding your mindset. From start to end, you truly are shooting with the goal of stopping the threat. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

"Like swim lessons for little kids, the purpose of a defensive handgun class for adults is to teach you how to do some things you do not already know how to do." -- Kathy Jackson

Self Defense Quiz (free)http://selfdefensequiz.com/ After 10,000 unique tests, the average score of people who have regularly carried for 5 years or more is 5 out of 10.As our President would say, "Sad."

You won't have a deep enjoyment of cardiovascular activity until you break through the pain barrier. And you need that to be able to lower your blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, and most importantly to be able to relax during the high stress situation. You won't have a deep enjoyment of the positions until you can achieve them correctly, which means having them well within your range of motion, which means stretching, which means breaking through the pain barrier of stretching your muscles so that you can relax in position. You won't have a deep enjoyment of shooting until you master trigger control, so that you can achieve the surprise break epiphany. (And you won't achieve this until your optical system is in order. Yes, you have to be able to finely resolve your front sight. Because your brain uses your sight movie to control your muscle tension, muscle tonus, and trigger pressure. Visual aids are legal and are encouraged by your coaches. But, if you don't get an eye exam, no one will have the information to help you. And if you don't give the doctor's report to your coach, your coach won't have the information to help you.) Only when you are able to execute good shots on demand will you break through the psychological barrier to confidence. The surprise break will give you the ability to do this. That is the beauty of our endeavor, gunfighting is completely objective, a perfect meritocracy. Doesn't matter who is morally good or bad. The more highly trained, more practiced, more skilled person wins. At the beginning of every American Legion meeting, we ask God to make our might right. But, whether we are right or wrong, we are going to win the fight. Because we are better fighters. It doesn't matter what kind of horrific childhood the enemy had, we are not going to allow him to hurt our people.

Growthhttps://www.corneredcat.com/growth/Excerpt:So . . . do you want to be better at protecting yourself and the people you love?Do you want to be a better shooter?Do you want to be better at identifying danger? And better at avoiding it?Do you want to have a more solid understanding of the legal realities of self defense?How far outside your comfort zone are you willing to move, and how long are you willing to keep pushing through your limitations?

Lessons from a close encounterhttps://www.corneredcat.com/lessons-from-a-close-encounter/Excerpt:What’s the lesson, here? It’s this: If you are ever involved in a high-stress situation, and your gun sounds funny to you, don’t quit! Keep doing whatever you need to do to survive. Odd-sounding gunfire just seems to be part of the package. Don’t let it throw you for a loop.

Accuracy Classhttps://www.corneredcat.com/accuracy-class/Excerpt: . . . Focusing on the fundamentals tends to bring out the best in shooters. This is true no matter what your existing skill level might be. But you have to reject the idea that you already know everything, if you are ever going to learn anything. That, too, goes back to fear and insecurity. If you want to learn, you cannot be afraid that others will see you learning.

Training Ranthttps://www.corneredcat.com/training-rant/Excerpt:. . . when you practice without training first, you will often practice the wrong things. You will also often fail to practice some of the right things.

“In asocial or predatory violence, particularly in a predatory ambush, the purpose of presence and verbal skills is to keep you off the victim list. As such they must become habits. You may never even know if they worked. If a predator scans you – which will happen several times a day in the crowded part of a big city – and decides to pass, chances are good that you will not even notice. Success, in this subject, is often invisible. If your habits of presence — how you walk, how you scan, what you do with your positioning and your hands — are good, the bad guy quietly moves on, never even coming to your attention.” -- Rory Miller and Lawrence A. Kane "Scaling Force: dynamic decision-making under threat of violence"ISBN-10: 1594392501ISBN-13: 978-1594392504https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-Force-Dynamic-Decision-Violence/dp/1594392501#reader_1594392501

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.-- T.S. Elliot

***** Techniques *****

Don't go to stupid places. Don't do stupid things.Don't hang out with stupid people.-- John Farnam

Keep the Muzzle Below the Bermhttps://www.corneredcat.com/keep-the-muzzle-below-the-berm/ . . . when reloading, when clearing malfunctions, when performing after action drills, etc. You don't shoot at aircraft with pistols. Your muzzle flash will draw their fire. You take cover. Running to cover is always a smart move.

We are practicing combat shooting in adverse conditions, not target shooting in pristine conditions. So, open up your rear sight (one or two hundredths of an inch should be sufficient). The rear sight is a window. You look through the rear sight to see the front sight. The front sight is the object of interest. Yes, I know that's counter intuitive. You're thinking the bad guy should be the object of interest. But, if you focus on the bad guy, the front sight will wander off and you'll never notice it. (Inattentional Blindness, if you don't focus on it, you won't see it. So, you can't aim.) Then you'll wonder why you're not hitting where you are aiming. It's because you are not aiming. Focusing on the front sight is aiming. Focusing on the threat is what scared bunnies do. Don't be a scared bunny. Be a competent operator. "One ringy dingy. Two ringy dingy." -- Lily Tomlin I was an operator for AT&T. We roamed the world on the telephone systems. Those were the days. We played on the cables that the Charlie Brown laid. We understood the code that ran on the GTD-5's and DMS-100's. The MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) for Signals Intelligence in the Marine Corps isn't 2600 by accident. Security clearances are for consumers. So, they can read what the producers wrote. The producers don't need security clearances and don't care whether or not some bureaucrat grants them one. Be a producer. Consumers are easily swayed and deceived.

Squibhttps://www.corneredcat.com/squib/Excerpt: However (and this is important!), if you ever hear that weird-sounding phthpht or pop sound [indicating a squib] in real life, when you are defending yourself from a violent criminal, you should keep shooting. Why? Two reasons.. . .

In his book The Art of Modern Gunfighting (Pistol), Reitz writes: “It is very difficult to fine tune a trigger press if all one does is to press the trigger rapidly. You can never learn the nuances and idiosyncracies of a particular trigger at great speed. This knowledge will only come at a slower speed and then will be built upon from that point.”

If you don't have a support side holster, you're wrong. God's not going to give you two weeks advance notice of the injury you're going to have. Remember what Sherman says, "If you prepare for the emergency, it ceases to be an emergency."

Read this. This is vitally important!"Winning Vision Revisited" by Dr. Norman H. Wong inShooting Sports USA magazine, pages 24 to 33http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nra/ssusa_201808/index.php#/24 Dr. Wong speaks the truth. Get an eye exam! Make sure your athletes get an eye exam before the start of everyshooting year. And anytime they start to have problems orcomplain about vision related problems. (If they have money,they access to medial doctors. If they don't have money, theyhave TennCare. There is no excuse.) "I recently had an eye exam, Coach." No, your optometrist's or ophthalmologist's prescriptionmay not be correct. That's why you have to get a secondopinion. Always get a second opinion. Humans make mistakes. And a lot of humans are involved in making your visioncorrection devices. "My vision is perfect, Coach. I don't need glasses."
Perfect vision means you meet an arbitrary standard for resolution at an arbitrary distance (20/20 vision), and your eyes focus to infinity when relaxed. So, your vision is not perfect for shooting. Your eyes don't focus at yourfront sight when your eyes are relaxed. Read the article! Monocular vision is different from binocular vision. This is not obvious. This is deep and difficult to understandwithout years of medical training. That's why you haveto believe what Dr. Wong says. Don't ignore him. If you don't understand what Dr. Wong is saying,ASK ME! This is critically important!--- There is also an article about sports drinks inthis magazine. Do not drink sports drinks. They willdisturb your body chemistry. (We learned this at thecoaches course at the Olympic Training Center inColorado Springs, CO. It's true.) Do not drink caffeine. Do not drink sugar. "What does that mean, Coach?" No soda pop. Not before the match. Not during thematch. Not after the match. Not ever. If you are in a leadership position, neverdrink such things in front of your athletes. Allleadership is by example.

1911 Disassembly and Deep Cleanhttps://www.range365.com/1911-disassembly-and-deep-clean I disagree with the author. You must use a bronze bore brush. A nylon bore brush is too soft to remove the copper and lead fouling. There is enough heat and pressure in your bore to chemically bond the fouling to your bore. So, you need a bore solvent and a bronze brush to get it out.
A steel brush is too hard; it will scratch your bore. A toothbrush made for humans is too soft to do what you need to do. Yes, I know toothbrushes used to be made of boar bristles. But, modern dentists generally agree that your toothbrush should be soft. Your gun brush needs to be very stiff. A stiffness that would destroy your gums.

AR-15 Cleaning & Maintenance: A Complete Guidehttps://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/8/4/ar-15-cleaning-maintenance-a-complete-guide/ When I was assigned to Mike Battery, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines in Chattanooga, TN, it was easy to distinguish between the Marines with combat experience and those without. Just watch them clean their rifles. If your life has never depended on your rifle functioning correctly, it's hard to get motivated to do a detailed cleaning. It's just another irritating chore. To pass inspection, some of the guys would use carburator cleaner (or other such chemicals). Resist such urges. Clean and dry will rust. An oily rifle is a happy rifle.

Secrets of Handgun Griphttps://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2018/8/8/secrets-of-handgun-grip/Excerpts: Smith & Wesson and John M. Browning both found that a grip angle of 118 degrees from the centerline of the barrel to be the most comfortable and natural angle. Georg Luger, the folks at Steyr, H&K with its P7, and Gaston Glock insist that a sharper angle of 122 degrees to be better. [This measurement is from the barrel axis down and back to the front strap of the grip.]

Normalization of Deviancehttps://www.corneredcat.com/normalization-of-deviance/ It's on you. Even if someone else takes responsibility for the bad outcome. It's still a bad outcome that you should have prevented. One of our guard orders was to "take responsibility for everything in sight." Maybe you were never on guard duty. Maybe you were never a Marine. Doesn't matter, take responsibility for the safety of everyone around you. Ignorance is no excuse.

For Instructors – a wake up callhttps://www.corneredcat.com/for-instructors-a-wake-up-call/Excerpts: Safety is not “everyone’s job.” It is the job of each one of us, individually. This means sometimes we will need to speak up . . . individually. When we see something that’s not as safe as it reasonably could be, we have to be brave enough to step up and change it. Even if other people have shot in that bay before and “didn’t have a problem with it.” Part of being a good instructor is learning how to ‘read’ a range for safety. A medical kit is about as useless as tits on a bull unless there’s someone there who knows how to use it. That someone should be you — even if you always poll your students and find out who has appropriate medical training so you can assign the task to the person with the highest level of training, there will be times when you find out that you are that person.

What does training do?https://www.corneredcat.com/what-does-training-do/Excerpt: Sadly, all too many students quit at step one or two. Good instructors must motivate students to continue, and help them understand the value of having well-practiced skills that will stand up under severe stress.

Instructor Ethics 101https://www.corneredcat.com/instructor-ethics-101/Excerpt: In order to fulfill my most important responsibility to my students, I have to risk pushing them beyond their comfort levels. And I have to do it in a way that will cause them to work harder rather than to shut down. If I’m not willing to take that risk for the sake of my students’ lives, I have no right to call myself a self-defense instructor.

"Every time I teach a class, I discover I don't know something."-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch

***** Pedagogy *****

“Never stop learning.” That includes following the news to see what methods the miscreants are using to harm us. It means staying in contact with your firearms instructor to discover new techniques or receive simple reminders. And it means keeping up with the tools of the trade that can keep you alive. Not just guns, but other less-lethal or security devices, too. -- Ken Campbell

Mirror, mirror, on the range . . . https://www.corneredcat.com/mirror-mirror-on-the-range/Excerpt: Instructors who make excuses not to demonstrate are often allowing their own egos (often, fear of failure or looking bad) get in the way of their students’ best opportunities to learn.

"Find a good lawyer and visit with them about the laws in your jurisdiction. . . You need to talk with a lawyer familiar with criminal prosecution and defense. Put their card in your wallet; it might end up being one of the most important calls you ever make." -- Ken Campbell

Taken from Andrew Branca's email letter of 20 August 2018 at 6:41 AM.Hey folks, I caution in every class that just because someone has a certain job title--firearms instructor, cop, lawyer, prosecutor, judge--you MUST NOT assume that they know a darned thing about use-of-force law. They MIGHT know, if they've made a diligent effort to educate themselves rather than simply re-tell nonsense they've previously been taught themselves, but you MUST NOT ASSUME that they know, based on their job title. Here's an excellent example of this, https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/prosecutor-offers-reminder-of-michigan-self-defense-lawsout of Michigan in a news article involving a purportedly defensive shooting. They manage to get extensive quotes from an actual Michigan prosecutor, identified as Benzie County Prosecutor Sara Swanson. Attorney Swanson is quoted as stating explicitly:"Michigan does not have a 'Stand Your Ground' law like, say Florida has ..." In fact Michigan adopted a SYG law almost identical to that of Florida's and in 2006 only a year after Florida adopted SYG in 2005. You'd think a Michigan prosecutor in 2018 would be aware that the state's had a SYG statute for the past 12 years, but apparently you'd be wrong. For reference: Michigan's law -- http://lawofselfdefense.com/statute/mi-780-972-use-of-deadly-force-by-individual-not-engaged-in-commission-of-crime-conditions/(1) An individual who has not or is not engaged in the commission of a crime at the time he or she uses deadly force may use deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat if either of the following applies: (a) The individual honestly and reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent death of or imminent great bodily harm to himself or herself or to another individual.(b) The individual honestly and reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent sexual assault of himself or herself or of another individual.(2) An individual who has not or is not engaged in the commission of a crime at the time he or she uses force other than deadly force may use force other than deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat if he or she honestly and reasonably believes that the use of that force is necessary to defend himself or herself or another individual from the imminent unlawful use of force by another individual. EDUCATE YOURSELVES! Assuming that the so-called "legal experts" around you actually know use-of-force law is HAZARDOUS TO YOUR LIBERTY! Two excellent and free ways to do this is to catch our weekly "Law of Self Defense Show" at http://www.lawofselfdefense.com/show Also, we do all our blogging on our Patreon page, with each blog post freely accessible for a week or so, after which content (including our higher value expert reports and video and podcast recordings of each week's "Law of Self Defense Show) is restricted to our paying patrons: http://www.lawofselfdefense.com/patreon--AndrewAttorney Andrew F. BrancaLaw of Self Defense LLC

17.25 million concealed handgun permits, biggest increases for women and minoritieshttps://crimeresearch.org/2018/08/new-study-17-25-million-concealed-handgun-permits-biggest-increases-for-women-and-minorities/Excerpt: "Despite 14 states that don't require licenses in all or virtually all their states, there are now over 17.25 million permits, an 890,000 increase over the past year. Again, the biggest rates of growth for permits were for women and minorities. -- Dr. John LottJohn R. Lott, Jr.PresidentCrime Prevention Research Centerhttp://crimeresearch.orgjohnrlott@crimeresearch.org(484) 802-5373 Look at the graph at the bottom of the article. This is why it is so critically important to leave Hawaii. Get out while you still can. The taxes and cost of living are sky high. The government regulations are so onerous, small businesses like VeriFone, Inc. have fled to California (not much better, but better).

Stop I-1639http://olegvolk.net/gallery/technology/arms/No_to_I1639_0929web.jpg.htmlExcerpt:At age 18: Adult enough to marry. Adult enought to join the military. Adult enough to sign a contract on a car or house. Her vote counts as much as anyone's.I-1639 proposes to treat her as an incompetent minor and keep her defenseless till age 21. No to discrimination against young adults: Stop I-1639!

Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'Instead, they argue for the power to 'protect people from themselves.'-- AE Samaan

***** Survival Tips *****

"Militum semper memento"(Always remember the soldiers.)

Do you have the willingness to acknowledge what you are seeingand more importantly, the courage to act immediately? "Reprogramming the Lay Rescuer Psychology to Cardiac Arrest" https://www.jems.com/articles/2018/07/reprogramming-the-lay-rescuer-psychology-to-cardiac-arrest.htmlExcerpt:. . . the willingness to acknowledge what she was seeing and more importantly, the courage to act immediately and without hesitation. . . . reprograming the lay rescuer mindset from a “wait for help” mindset to the “be the help.”

"Marked for Mayhem" in Psychology Todayhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200901/marked-mayhemExcerpts: "If I saw a pair of construction boots, for example, out on the porch or on the landing, I walked right on by. In fact, I think if women who live alone would put a pair of old construction boots - or something that makes it look like a physically fit manly-type of guy lives with them - out in front of their door, most rapists or even burglars wouldn't even think about trying to get into their home." Women who are the victims of rape tend to be less able than average to interpret nonverbal facial cues - which may render them oblivious to the warning signs of hostile intent and more likely to enter or stay in dangerous situations. Predatory men can accurately identify submissive women just by their style of dress and other aspects of appearance. The hallmarks of submissive body language, such as downward gaze and slumped posture, may even be misinterpreted by rapists as flirtation. [Note that the "Cooperate" advise at the end of the article only works when the attacker's only intent is to get your stuff. It doesn't make sense to cooperate with rapists, murderers, batterers, etc. And you never know what the attacker's intent is. -- Jon Low]